Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part IV

[OmNomNom]

Former Florida Panthers coach Andrew Brunette arrested for DUI in Broward County

Former Florida Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette was arrested in South Florida for driving under the influence.

www.local10.com

Deputies took Brunette into custody on multiple charges including DUI and disobey of a stop or yield sign.

He was taken to the Broward Main Jail.

This isn’t the first time over the past few years Brunette has had a traffic infraction in Broward County.

Records show Brunette had previous cases, both for speeding-related infractions.

In May of 2022 he pled guilty for going 58 mph in a 40 mph zone and paid a $260 fine, and in February of 2021 he was stopped for allegedly going 27 mph in a school zone, but that case was eventually dismissed.

Both incidents occurred in the area of Deerfield Beach, which is where he was arrested for the DUI.

i will say the other 2 incidences aren't DUI related, because i assume he'd have been charged in those instances with it (though 58 in a 40 is bad... the school zone thing i could see happening off school-hours)

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I dunno, if helping people with such issues is who you want to be, then I think you help the guy no matter how drunk he was.

I think Rhodes's point is it's something the Devils can manage to help him while he can work his way back to us versus completely firing him and sending him to rehab like Dallas did with Montgomery.

 

[HersheyBob27]

Could it have been an isolated and selfish mistake? Sure.

But I think Florida choosing not retain him after being a Jack Adams finalist, and now this incident…it doesn’t seem outlandish to maybe start to wonder if he actually has a problem.

Guy has to be smarter this. I would gas him immediately

 

[Guttersniped]

Since we're talking about Matteau and the recent trade Lou made in the other thread, what really annoys me about the last couple years of Lou here and seeing him make an upgrade with Horvat right now is how lackadaisical he was with replacing Parise in 2012. We got NOTHING to replace him with, save for Bobby Butler and what else? Krys Barch? lol.

I caught a lot of shit here for trashing Lou over that. We kept the 1st round pick, Parise walked and we did nothing. Oh yeah, we re-traded for Ponikarovsky after he walked the summer before when we were held up with Parise and he was PATHETIC and already had one foot out of the league the second time we had him.

Oh yeah, 38 year old Steve Sullivan at the deadline the next year. Not that I think he should have done anything that year at the deadline, it was too late. We were already cooked. Clarkson definitely should have went that deadline, especially when people are already bummed that Severson and potentially Graves might walk for nothing in a year where we are FIRMLY in a playoff spot.

And all we heard ''You don't replace a playa like Zach Parise'' the entire summer. I was really starting to seriously sour on Lou at that point and had long since soured on Conte. And then hearing about how we have to give our ''Younga playas'' a chance, which were garbage like Tedenbust.

Honestly, he kind of did do the same thing with the Islanders this last offseason. Doing nothing in the offseason and waiting until the next season when the team was out of a playoff spot. And a traffic cone could replace 45 year old Chara and 40 year old Greene, so it's not like he really should have done anything there and he did trade his first for Romanov.

But they also didn't lose a ''Playa like Zach Parise'' and really haven't seen he's been there, other than when he passed Tavares walking through the door, as Tavares was walking out the door.

In the end, we probably would have been even more worse off if we had blown a huge wad replacing Parise in 2012. It probably would have been at the expense of our 2013 first rounder way before we actually we used it on Cory and there was the lockout, which made it an awkward and weird offseason/season to begin with.

The 2014 Ruutu deadline trade is one of the stupidest, nonsense moves I can remember. Like, why even bother? Just do nothing, rather than acquiring a clearly already massively declining 30 year old player with an additional 2 years remaining.

If you can find a forward on this list that fits your imaginary fantasy replacement concept for Parise that Lou was supposed to sign or trade for, LMK. I don’t see any candidates.

2012–13 NHL transactions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[theoptimist]

Ok so Tatar.....

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Could it have been an isolated and selfish mistake? Sure.

But I think Florida choosing not retain him after being a Jack Adams finalist, and now this incident…it doesn’t seem outlandish to maybe start to wonder if he actually has a problem.

That's something I didn't even consider tbh but it's possible especially after what they did with Quenneville and how hard they got reamed for it (rightly so). Obviously two completely different but you know teams are after coaching stuff like that comes out.

 

[Bleedred]

If you can find a forward on this list that fits your imaginary fantasy replacement concept for Parise that Lou was supposed to sign or trade for, LMK. I don’t see any candidates.

2012–13 NHL transactions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was totally behind a one year deal for Semin at the time, but definitely didn’t wanna sign him to the long term he got after that. He was bought out with 3 years remaining.

Obviously, he’s not as good as Parise and I didn’t expect someone THAT good.

Semin was still a pretty good player at that time, but not for long……

 

[JimEIV]

Florida man...

Funny this just came up I'm so bored sitting at home that I just booked a flight to Key West

 

[Nocashstyle]

I think Rhodes's point is it's something the Devils can manage to help him while he can work his way back to us versus completely firing him and sending him to rehab like Dallas did with Montgomery.

I guess it ended up working out in the end, but I didn’t really like the optics of how Dallas handled the Montgomery firing. At first they just said “unprofessional conduct.” It just would have been a lot better to have stated he was entering the program or taking a step down for personal reasons…something like that. Maybe they supported him more in the background, but they basically seemed to throw him under the bus instead of publicly supporting him while he got help.

 

[Better Call Sal]

There is nothing to indicate Florida not retaining him had anything to do with anything behind the scenes and assuming that to be the case is ill advised as I would imagine he would not have obtained another job so quickly, especially with Jim Montgomery's struggle being so well known and how Dallas handled it overall.

People are quick to rush to things here. It's not a good look by any stretch of the imagination but I trust the team will treat it correctly when they're made aware of all of the facts. For Brunette's sake, I hope he gets the help he needs.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

I guess it ended up working out in the end, but I didn’t really like the optics of how Dallas handled the Montgomery firing. At first they just said “unprofessional conduct.” It just would have been a lot better to have stated he was entering the program or taking a step down for personal reasons…something like that. Maybe they supported him more in the background, but they basically seemed to throw him under the bus instead of publicly supporting him while he got help.

I forget at the time but I'm pretty sure Dallas was pretty high in the West standings so they definitely said that to save face considering they probably knew what Montgomery was doing. The guy showed up to their practices completely plastered from what the story was with him.

 

[JimEIV]

I just told my wife about Brunette...

She said "He's on break and besides who doesn't get arrested for DUI in south Florida. No big deal".

 

[FooteBahl]

Stupid stupid. They have every resource at their disposal and he can afford an Uber. Shit, my insurance company will cover an Uber for me once a year I think.

 

[Better Call Sal]

I guess it ended up working out in the end, but I didn’t really like the optics of how Dallas handled the Montgomery firing. At first they just said “unprofessional conduct.” It just would have been a lot better to have stated he was entering the program or taking a step down for personal reasons…something like that. Maybe they supported him more in the background, but they basically seemed to throw him under the bus instead of publicly supporting him while he got help.

Dallas didn't offer specifics at the time out of respect to what had gone on but it came out later on that their GM had addressed Montgomery's drinking habits multiple times before the final incident. It was clearly a situation that progressively got worse and had to be handled in the manner that it was. Thankfully, he seems to be in a much better place mentally.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

Novo even suggested this might be someone NJ targets in his article today (below).

I don't know what would be worse - seeing a Domi or Matteau on the back of a Devils jersey...but in Fitz I trust.

View attachment 644688

View attachment 644689

Sounds like he’s talking about Grant Marshal. Remember hating that move and thought Lou lost his mind. But he did help the Devils win a cup.

 

[Guttersniped]

I was totally behind a one year deal for Semin at the time, but definitely didn’t wanna sign him to the long term he got after that. He was bought out with 3 years remaining.

Obviously, he’s not as good as Parise and I didn’t expect someone THAT good.

Semin was still a pretty good player at that time, but not for long……

Did we have 7m for him?

 

[devilsblood]

I think Rhodes's point is it's something the Devils can manage to help him while he can work his way back to us versus completely firing him and sending him to rehab like Dallas did with Montgomery.

Though I'd grant Montgomery could never be coach in Dallas again, I'd say straight firing him was a bit cold hearted. They could have kept him employed in another capacity while he worked the rehab process. That to me is a better look if the goal is to help the individual.


With Brunette we do have more wiggle room as he wasn't the HC. We can interim a guy for the rest of the season, and then have Brunette back in his spot by start of next year. Probably couldn't do that if he was HC.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

FWIW, if it comes out that this is a repeated issue for Brunette and he gets fired (which he should) and get help. I wouldn't have an issue with promoting McGill if Lindy is surely done with coaching. McGill has been just as good of an assistant if not better than Brunette with how the defense has looked for the most part.

 

[imMagnum]

Stupid stupid. They have every resource at their disposal and he can afford an Uber. Shit, my insurance company will cover an Uber for me once a year I think.

Either he's stupid, thinks he's more important than the law and/or everyone else, or has a self-destructing personality. Either way, not the kind of person you want leading others.

 

[Nocashstyle]

Dallas didn't offer specifics at the time out of respect to what had gone on but it came out later on that their GM had addressed Montgomery's drinking habits multiple times before the final incident. It was clearly a situation that progressively got worse and had to be handled in the manner that it was. Thankfully, he seems to be in a much better place mentally.

Yeah I guess maybe they consciously made the decision that it was time for “tough love,” and that’s why they publicly handled it that way. I just would have liked to see a little more public support once he finally did accept that he had a problem and got help. But again, it seems like he’s doing great now, so the way it was handled ended up working out.

 

[Bleedred]

First and foremost, drinking and driving is not okay. No matter who you are. If you're worried you might have to drive while you've been drinking at some point, then it's easier to just NOT DRINK.

Drinking and driving is not okay, whether you're the president, a hockey coach, an actor, a cop, a lawyer, doctor or the guy next door. It's not okay.

That said, I don't think this would be the first time an active player or coach has gotten a DUI.

Perhaps I somehow missed a more in-depth story on this, but why is it being implied that he has a problem? There's plenty of instances where people have gotten DUI's, but don't necessarily have a problem abusing alcohol, but just made the bad decision of driving while under the influence. Or they made the decision way too many times and finally got caught, but I don't believe it's necessarily an alcohol abuse problem, although it definitely could be as well.

I just thought it was kind of strange that people have implied he needs to get help, but perhaps I missed some context?

Hopefully he doesn't have an issue abusing alcohol and at the very least this bad publicity is enough to cause him to never operate a vehicle while drinking again.

 

[JimEIV]

Either he's stupid, thinks he's more important than the law and/or everyone else, or has a self-destructing personality. Either way, not the kind of person you want leading others.

Unfortunately for a lot of people my age and older, and Brunette is my age, drinking and driving is not so uncommon.

I got to get out of the house, I'm going crazy.

 

[Rybo]

School zone doesn’t automatically mean 25 MPH - could be 15 or 20, it is Florida so who knows


Hard not to be judgemental on a DUI, especially with that mugshot sheesh, dude looks disheveled

Id be disheveled too - if I knew my picture was going to be online for a DUI charge!

Maybe the cop was a Panthers fan lol

 

[Billdo]

So that's why it was 27 mph, Broward County is 15 mph. Equivalent to a 37 in a 25 ticket for those of us in NJ. It certainly seems like he's got a problem with cops in Broward County. I do wonder why ppl automatically say he's got a problem though. You certainly could be a drunk and need help or it could be an isolated issue. Having said that, I have zero sympathy for anyone who gets a valid DUI.

 

[Nocashstyle]

First and foremost, drinking and driving is not okay. No matter who you are. If you're worried you might have to drive while you've been drinking at some point, then it's easier to just NOT DRINK.

Drinking and driving is not okay, whether you're the president, a hockey coach, an actor, a cop, a lawyer, doctor or the guy next door. It's not okay.

That said, I don't think this would be the first time an active player or coach has gotten a DUI.

Perhaps I somehow missed a more in-depth story on this, but why is it being implied that he has a problem? There's plenty of instances where people have gotten DUI's, but don't necessarily have a problem abusing alcohol, but just made the bad decision of driving while under the influence. Or they made the decision way too many times and finally got caught, but I don't believe it's necessarily an alcohol abuse problem, although it definitely could be as well.

I just thought it was kind of strange that people have implied he needs to get help, but perhaps I missed some context?

Hopefully he doesn't have an issue abusing alcohol and at the very least this bad publicity is enough to cause him to never operate a vehicle while drinking again.

I think a lot here are only thinking of the traditional depiction of an alcoholic that needs to drink every day to stop the shakes.

Even if you only drink on weekends but you’re still bingeing enough to make poor decision such as getting behind the wheel and not only endangering yourself, but others as well, that can absolutely be a problem too.